San Francisco's Mineral Cosmetic Studios

I wandered in here while shopping at the outlet mall one day. A small sale sign caught my eye taped on the door. Make-up + Sale? I think so.A well kept employee greeted me with a hello. The overall store is small but there are shelves and counters with various make-up displays. The store is clean. There were a few testers here and there and a place to have your make-up done (I think anyway. I didn't see any advertising for services.) I like to browse at a turtle pace, swatch colors, and see what combinations look the best so I felt just a little awkward being watched by the store employee without reassurance. Maybe she was waiting to see if I needed anything because as soon as I piped up she was ready.As their door sign had stated, there was in fact a small section with deeply discounted inventory (a lot of Smashbox products). The sale selection was a bit limited in colors. A little handmade sign stated not to open the boxes. Since there was no tester available the sales associate helped me out and opened a box I was interested in so I could eye the actual color, which was great because I ended up buying it! She also let me use a make-up brush on hand to test a product too. I ended up walking out with a couple items from the sales area. Mineral make-up isn't my go to but I'll definitely pop back in again to see what sale they may have going on.You can get a rewards card here too. Get a stamp every time you spend x amount and eventually receive a discount. They also offer a military discount on regular priced items.

The store is clean and neat, seems to have a good selection and stock is kept current.I've purchased Jane Iredale products from here a couple of times and had varying customer service experiences depending on which salesperson is on staff. The last time I was there, I was the only customer in the store, yet I was rushed out as if the saleswoman had something better to do. In fact, she helped me pick out the two items I'd come in for specifically, and then hurried over to the register and stood there. I actually had to tell her I wasn't finished shopping yet! She did point out a selection of clearance items, and briefly removed the shadows from the boxes so that I could see them, but then hurriedly returned them to the boxes so there was no way to compare shades. Another issue I have is that some of the saleswomen will try cosmetics on their arm to show you what the color looks like. Unless I have the same skin color, how can I know how the product is going to look on me?Their return policy is terrible.They will not give a refund for any open packages. So two of the shadows I purchased, which are irritating my lids (I think because they are shimmery when I have always previously purchased matte in this line) are not refundable. They did let me exchange a foundation color once, but made it very clear they were unhappy to do so.Although I prefer to buy cosmetics in person, rather than online, 100% Pure and Ecco Bella provide high quality, all natural and cruelty-free cosmetics and will happily take anything back for any reason. In fact, I believe from their site that JaneIredale.com has a more liberal return/refund policy. I doubt I'll be purchasing anything from this store again.